We’re excited to formally announce the launch of the first phase of our mainnet rollout!
On April 27, Pontus, Phase I of the Conflux Network mainnet rollout was officially launched. In Pontus, Conflux Network will provide a stable and safe test environment for developers, and users can join and experience the high-performance protocol and ecosystem of Conflux.
Over the past year, the Conflux team has been working hard to improve our network, from version 1.0 to version 5.0, each iteration is a hard-earned achievement by all team members. The launch of Pontus is our way of saying “Thank you” to our partners, community members and friends. Without the support from everyone, Pontus wouldn’t have been possible.
Conflux believes security is top priority for any technology. Hence, with each iteration we ensure that asset and data security of users and partners are upgraded. Pontus is set to provide a stable ground-layer protocol for our partners to develop DApps on top of. It might not be perfect, however, we encourage everyone to participate and improve Conflux as a joint effort and help us take it to the next level!
Pontus — Conflux DEX Ecosystem
In Pontus, we have launched the Conflux DEX Ecosystem — the first step towards a more secure, stable, and easier-to-use framework for DEXes. The Conflux Foundation supports the development and maintenance of the three basic features of the DEX ecosystem:
3) Value-Added Services such as Flash Swap and Price Limit services
The overall framework of the Conflux DEX ecosystem is shown in the table below:
In order to realize quick matching and settlement of transaction pairs, Conflux will form a Cross-Chain Custodian Alliance with important participants, such as well-known wallet providers, trusted merchants, and decentralized exchanges. Through the Conflux DEX ecosystem’sShuttleFlow protocol, we will be mapping assets from other public chains to Conflux with multisig technology. The protocol makes it possible to efficiently match and settle various transactions within the same smart contract protocol. This method is similar to the way people mapped their money to Alipay when transfers between accounts in different banks were inconvenient several years ago. For the specific mechanism of the protocol, please refer toConflux ShuttleFlow: A Cross-Chain Asset Protocol
To build a scalable, high-performance, and secure DEX, Conflux uses the Dual Protocol:BoomFlow & MatchFlow. With implementing the Dual Protocol, an on-chain ledger and an off-chain ledger are maintained on Conflux concurrently, users need to deposit assets on-chain onto the BoomFlow contract (1), where the off-chain & on-chain ledgers are synchronized in real-time (2). Afterward, the user fills an order (asset change request) to the off-chain matching engine MatchFlow for matching (3). The matching result is recorded on the off-chain ledger first and then synchronized to the on-chain ledger (4), at which point BoomFlow protocol will settle. For the specific mechanism of the protocol, please refer to Conflux Dual Protocol: On-Chain Settlements — BoomFlow & Off-Chain Matching — MatchFlow
The above-mentioned protocols are the two basic features of the Conflux DEX ecosystem supporting the third basic feature for the users to experience:Value-Added Services. The value-added services include flash swaps for tokens without direct trading pairs, token transactions, and quantitative trading.
Another innovative mechanism on Pontus is the Conflux Transaction Sponsorship Mechanism, which is currently only available on the Conflux Network. The mechanism is developed to tackle the issue of below-average user experiences on current public blockchain products, especially within the DeFi space, hindering the mass-adoption of blockchain technology.
In addition to improving throughput and increasing confirmation times to reduce the cost of users, Conflux has also considered how to facilitate new users’ experience on the blockchain when designing the consensus protocol. Conflux allows new users with zero balance to enjoy on-chain smart contracts. We strive to be user-centric, which is why we decided to remove the hurdle of an initial deposit for operating smart contracts.This is to attract new users, we know how important it is to stimulate users’ interest to give blockchain technology a try, as we drive adoption. As the mechanism title reads, Conflux designed it on the protocol level for “sponsors” to pay a users’ transaction fees when they engage with smart contracts. The Sponsorship Mechanism allows users with no balance to use smart contracts directly, paid by sponsors. For the mechanism details, please refer to Conflux Transaction Sponsorship Mechanism.
Conflux Mainnet Launch Plan
Three phases in the Conflux Mainnet Launch Plan, when Pontus is stable, Phase II — Oceanus will begin. Oceanus will focus on an all-around pilot run of mining algorithms, DApps, DEXes, and other DeFi products with our ecosystem partners. The network features and functions will be gradually released to the community in order to increase the level of decentralization while maintaining high-levels of system security and performance throughout the network. After Oceanus is over, Phase III — Tethys will begin as the final and fully functional mainnet of the Conflux Network!
Apart from the launch of the Conflux DEX ecosystem, Conflux will support the development of DApps, through incubation of selected projects. Partners from all fields are welcomed to join the Conflux Network ecosystem and contribute to the development of advancing decentralized application scenarios on top of this next-generation public blockchain, and thrive towards the mass-adoption of blockchain technology.
Conflux Network officially established its base in Africa, since then a lot has been achieved. The COVID 19 pandemic has stalled major plans of various organizations nevertheless, Conflux network has been able gain reasonable recognition in Africa’s blockchain space through their regional marketing team headed by Ehis Omozusi, who is based in Lagos Nigeria.
Conflux has established partnerships with a couple major blockchain players in Africa, such as Fliqpay, a Nigeria-based cryptocurrency payment gateway to enable merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments from customers anywhere in the world. In the near future we will be publishing Podcasts and Webinar interviews with the community, to share the insights of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in Africa!
At Conflux, we aim to “empower decentralized businesses”and this is considered in every new feature we release, Conflux Network will ensure the stability of the underlying network in Pontus, and encourages all members and partners to join us in our mission to jointly promote the development of this ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to any company, product or service mentioned in this article. BitcoinAfrica.io is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, product or service mentioned in this post.
The much-anticipated transition of the Ethereum network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus is finally taking place. The adaptation of PoS has always been the plan and a vital part of scaling Ethereum by future upgrades. However, abruptly shifting to PoS can pose significant technical and community challenges that are not as simple as using PoW to achieve network consensus. Having said that, what exactly are PoS and PoW?
Proof of Work
Proof-of-work (PoW) is a consensus algorithm that allows for the secure, decentralised verification of transactions on a blockchain. In a PoW system, miners are responsible for verifying and committing transactions to the blockchain. During the verification process, miners compete against each other to solve complex cryptographic puzzles. The first miner to solve the puzzle is rewarded with cryptocurrency, and the transaction is added to the blockchain.
Reasons To Shift From Proof of Work
The Ethereum ecosystem has evolved at an astounding rate in the last year. This growth was primarily due to a significant emergence and explosion of NFTs and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) initiatives. While the change-over was imminent, some factors to be considered for the same are:
The PoW consensus protocol requires users to utilise significant computational power to validate transactions and add new blocks to the network.
Users who devote their computational resources to the shared ledger are miners.
These miners are rewarded with Ether tokens in exchange for the computing power they have supplied to the network.
With PoW consensus, Ethereum takes up to 113 terawatt-hours of electricity in a year. According to Digiconomist, it is more than the total electricity consumption of the Netherlands per year.
The current Ethereum transaction with PoW consensus takes up energy equivalent to the consumption of one week of energy of an average US household.
With so many downsides to its cap, PoW has many advantages, which is one of the main reasons it has been a reliable consensus for so long. The PoW consensus has been robust and secure all these years. But the consensus can be utilised by a cryptocurrency with a massive valuation and relatively simple use case, such as the bitcoin. With the amount of energy and power involved, it becomes difficult for individuals to meddle with a high valuation asset.
Proof of Stake
The consensus protocol Proof-of-stake (PoS) has been introduced to address the issue of over-mining. Proof of stake (PoS) is critical to understand because it could eventually replace the proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism that is currently used by most cryptocurrencies.
“PoS is a way to achieve decentralised consensus without using energy-intensive mining. It is an alternative to the more common proof of work algorithm. With PoS, a cryptocurrency’s blockchain is secured by its token holders who are required to lock up their tokens as stake and not by miners equipped with powerful hardware. It’s an energy-efficient, cost-effective and therefore, a popular choice for crypto giants like Ethereum,” states Dev Sharma, CEO of Blockwiz, a crypto marketing agency.
In contrast to PoW, in which the individual who completes the mathematical proof first is rewarded with new coins, with PoS, no new coins are created.
Benefits of Proof of Stake Consensus
Proof-of-stake introduces several enhancements over the PoS mechanism:
Improved resource proficiency – you don’t need as many energy mining blocks.
Minimal entry barriers, lower hardware requirements – Even if you don’t possess top-tier hardware, you still get ample opportunities to participate in the creation of blocks.
More excellent resistance to centralization – PoS would imminently facilitate the generation of more nodes.
Staking facilitates the operation of a node. It does not necessitate significant expenditure on equipment purchases or resources, and if you lack the ETH token to stake, you cannot participate in staking pools.
Staking consensus enables reliable sharding. Shards enable Ethereum to generate new blocks simultaneously, leading to enhanced throughput of transactions.
In a PoW mechanism, sharding the chain would reduce the amount of energy required to modify a particular network section.
In a Nutshell
Proof of stake (PoS) is a type of algorithm used by cryptocurrencies to determine who gets to create new blocks on the blockchain. PoS works by requiring users to lock up some of their currency in a smart contract called a stake. In return, they are given the right to validate blocks on the network and earn rewards.
The advantage of PoS is that it doesn’t require the massive energy consumption that PoW does. This non-dependency on massive energy utilisation makes it more environmentally friendly. It reduces the risk of centralisation since few users would be able to control the majority of the currency. Therefore, it’s no wonder that Ethereum is making the much-anticipated switch.
CEO Michael Wu joined Forkast News to discuss crypto’s consumer adoption and what’s next for crypto.
CEO Michael Wu joined CNBC Street Signs Asia to share how Amber Group seeks a balance between regulation and crypto development.
CEO Michael Wu gave an interview with Economist Impact at Technology for Change Week on how to stay ahead of the curve in the fintech space.
Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Economist Impact’s Asia Trade Week to discuss the future of crypto as payment in Asia.
Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Avalanche Summit to discuss the opportunities and challenges in DeFi.
Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Goldman Sach’s panel discussion on “Digital assets – Investing in the future” to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Managing Partner Annabelle Huang gave a guest lecture on DeFi and Web3 for the International Finance class at Singapore Management University.
Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined the DIG FIN VOX podcast to talk about Amber Group’s move to Singapore and into retail.
CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined Blockchain Africa Conference 2022 to discuss institutional investment in crypto.
CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined FinTech Festival India at a panel discussion on “De-Fi – A better solution for peer-to-peer lending”.
CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined the World Blockchain Summit in Dubai at a panel discussion on “Fostering the global crypto ecosystem”.
Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger delivered a keynote speech on digital wealth at Blockchain Africa Conference 2022.
Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined the CryptoCompare Summit in London to discuss the building blocks of the new digital economy.
Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined the FundFocus Europe 2022 conference to discuss the foundation for the widespread institutional adoption of cryptocurrency.
Rear
Latin America Managing Director Nicole Pabello joined the Ethereum Rio conference to discuss the LATAM Ecosystem in the world.
Institutional Sales Director Justin d’Anethan joined EmergentX’s Annual Digital Asset Summit to discuss the institutionalizing of the digital asset industry.
Managing Director Ben Radclyffe joined Credit Suisse’s Asian Investment Conference to discuss the spillovers between crypto and equity markets.
The Hydra Developer Bootcamp organised by ChainIDE and Conflux for Web3 developers in Africa provides them with hands-on blockchain 101 training, insight into the African blockchain & crypto industry, and a unique outlook on the future prospects of the Metaverse and Web 3. More than 200 people have already signed up for this event while the first two modules have already attracted more than 500 views in two days.
On Saturday 2nd April 2022, the opening ceremony of the 2022 Hydra Developer Bootcamp was successfully held. Wu Xiao, CEO of WhiteMatrix, a Chinese tech firm that provides industry-leading blockchain services, was the first guest speaker at the opening ceremony and said,“we strive to support the blockchain ecosystem and grow together with the community”.
Chris, head of global expansions at Conflux Network, advocates for the transition towards Web3 and the mass adoption of blockchain technology. Topics such as DeFi, GameFi, and the phenomenon of Africa boasting the biggest volume of Bitcoin remittance in the world are to be discussed in the future.
On launch day, the co-founder of GIGx, Osamede Arhunmwunde described the adoption of blockchain technology as the opportunity of our generation. The goal of GIGX as Africa’s first decentralised marketplace is to onboard the next million users across Nigeria.
Other guests include Chimezie Chuta: founder of Blockchain Nigeria User Group (BNUG), Conflux Network was also represented by Ehis Omozusi, their regional marketing & business lead. Other valuable guests include Obasi Francis: CEO & Co-founder of Cassava Network & former CEO at Lead Wallet and Gaius Chibueze: CEO of ABiT Network.
During the panel discussion, Mr. Chuta depicts the lack of trust and transparency as the main bottlenecks to Africa’s development, and that blockchain’s nature (transparent, immutable, verifiable, secure & decentralised) could be the key to solving this problem. On the other hand, Mr. Ehis emphasised the enormous growth potential of the African crypto sector and that this line of work is not limited to developers. During his intervention, Mr. Francis stressed that the crypto space in Africa boasts an excellent development environment as it is already self-regulating.
The Hydra Developer Bootcamp comes with a $7000 Bounty, and POAPs are available for those who attend the bootcamp from Week 2 to Week 4. Participants that attended the entire bootcamp event will get a chance to join the giveaway lottery scheduled on Week 4. The registration deadline for the Hydra Developer Bootcamp is 9th April at 13:00 GMT+1.
Future modules in this Hydra Developer Bootcamp include creating smart contracts using Solidity, and developing a blockchain-based game and metaverse. Team building has started and participants may contact other members in the Telegram group or outside the TG group to build a Team. Coding lectures will start next week and instructions will be given on how to build applications and deploy them on the Conflux blockchain. Make sure to follow the Hydra Developer Bootcamp on Official channels and remember filling in the forms in the Telegram group!